


Proving Approval

by BluePlanetTrash



Series: Papa Iverson Series [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Happy, Happy Ending, Latte - Freeform, M/M, Matt proving himself, Meeting the Family, Meeting the Parents, Nervous Matt, Papa Iverson, Protective Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 00:56:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14249595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: I was hoping you could do another papa Iverson fic? I'd love to see how Matt proves himself worthy to Iverson, & any of that sweet latte you've got me hooked on is 110% welcomed lol.





	Proving Approval

It wasn’t like Matt thought that it would be easy to get Iverson’s approval, but it was more nerve-wracking then he thought it would. Every move that he made was scrutinized by him and he found himself straightening up automatically whenever he walked by even though they were now at the same rank.

He didn’t know how close he was to getting his approval but he just wished that he had some way to tell where he was at. This wasn’t a video game though, there wasn’t a final boss before getting to the final goal. This was real life. He knew that there were people that were married that were still trying to get their in-law’s approval. He hoped that it wouldn’t come to that but at the rate they were going, he wasn’t exactly confident.

What he didn’t know, was that Iverson was slowly caving.

* * *

It really started when he noticed the little things that Matt would do for Lance. Every morning, no matter what was supposed to be happening that day; Matt would seek Lance out to bring him a travel mug with tea in it.

It was really the smile that stretched across Lance’s face when he saw Matt coming over. As he handed it over, he would give Lance a kiss and a ‘good morning’ before continuing on with his morning routine.

It was sweet. Bordering on sickeningly sweet.

But the beaming smile that he left Lance with was completely worth it.

If he had to describe Matthew Holt with one word, he would choose extra. He didn’t think that he would meet anyone that could match Lance’s flair for the dramatic, but he was sorely mistaken.

There were times that he would come across the two of them just sitting in one of the lounges, napping against one another. Or, sitting across from each other, hands intertwined with each others and talking lowly to one another with smiles on their faces. Sometimes Matt would just flop on the floor beside Lance with a smile and yell that he was melting and start complimenting Lance at the top of his lungs. The first few times, he chuckled and moved on, but after that, it became pretty well background noise in the everyday life of the Garrison.

It didn’t stop there though, sometimes he would send him a messenger to deliver a rose or a small bouquet of flowers, somehow sending Lance into a blushing mess. Occasionally, he would come up to Lance himself in the middle of the day, the bouquet clutched in his hand and shyly hand it over to him before asking him if he would join him for dinner later that night.

Considering that they had a date night every Wednesday, it became like clockwork that Matt came into the hangers at the same time to bring him new flowers; which he kept in a vase on his workbench beside Blue.

One time he asked about why Matt did all of the things that he did for Lance.

_“I think it’s because when we started dating, we were in the middle of space. We never got to do the things that normal couples did on Earth, and we never tried to think about what we were going to do when we got back. We couldn’t afford to, we were in a war after all. I guess we’re just making up for lost time,”_

Really, how Matt treated Lance embarrassingly reminded him of how Rosa treated him when they started dating. The constant compliments, and loving gestures they gave. He had always been too embarrassed and nervous to do anything spontaneous for her, so she took it upon herself to pick up the slack.

It was good that she did, otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have ever gotten married. She was the one that proposed after all.

None of Lance’s previous boyfriends had gone so far for him. None of them tried so hard to show how much they loved him. The first time he had gotten a flower from one of them, he had cried and pressed it so he could keep it as long as possible. Now, he got new flowers every week, each one in a different arrangement.

He had been fond of the Holt boy when he was instructing him, he knew it had been the opposite for him but he was smart and driven and he respected that in a student. In a son in law, however, he still had quite a while to go. He had made a positive first impression in his book but it didn’t mean he was ready to hand his son over completely.

* * *

Despite what Matt might think, it wasn’t his word that had last say. It was always going to be Rosa’s. Especially when it came to love, she had a way of seeing a person’s true self. She had predicted her sister’s husband within a few days of meeting him and knew that Maria’s relationships weren’t going to last just with a glance.

When it came time for Matt to meet the rest of his family; Lance invited him over during the summer break when Iverson had more time to take off and planned to be home for the weekend.

Mark stood imposingly in the kitchen, leaned against the counter, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Maria looked over at him with bored eyes and cocked her hip out.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m the protective big brother,” he said simply, bulging his eyes a little to seem scary but Caleb and Sophie just laughed at him and ran over to him to grab his hands.

“He’s not going to be scared of you,” Iverson said offhandedly, focused instead on chopping the onions on the cutting board in front of him. Mark’s arms fell to his sides and he sent a pout in his direction.

“Lance already told him everything about us and he told him that you’re even nicer than Hunk is,” he explained, waving his knife around his head thoughtlessly.

“I’m also his brother though, I get to do a bit of shovel talk,” he pointed out, turning to plant his elbows on the table.

“Correction,  _we_ get to do a bit of shovel talk,” Maria butted in, elbowing him in the side with a smirk.

“Do what you want, Lance isn’t going to be too happy about it though,” Iverson warned, holding out the cutting board to Rosa so she could dump it into the frying pan.  As she sautéed them, she turned to the two of them sternly with narrowed eyes.

“You better greet him with respect and a smile,” she warned. They flinched and quickly nodded their heads in understanding. She nodded her head in satisfaction and turned back to the food.

“Can we play the Wii?” Caleb asked, tugging on Mark’s hand, Sophie tugging on the other one in sync with her brother.

“After dinner,”

“Hey guys, we’re here!” Lance’s voice echoed through the house as the screen door to the house opened. He led Matt to the kitchen, holding his hand.

“Everyone, this is Matt,” he introduced, gesturing at him with his free hand.

“LANCE!” Mark yelled slamming his hands onto the counter. Everyone flinched and looked over at him in surprise.

“YOU DIDN’T TELL ME YOU WERE DATING MATTHEW HOLT!”

“Surprise,” Lance smirked, leading Matt over to Mark. He looked at Lance curiously.

“He’s a fan, follows all of your social medias, your publications, etcetera, etcetera,” he explained with a fond smile.

“Don’t make me sound weird!” Mark wailed, shaking Lance’s shoulders.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Matt smiled holding his hand out to shake, which Mark took excitedly. He introduced him to Maria next, followed by Caleb and Sophie who laughed when Matt knelt down to shake both of their hands as well.

When he brought him over to stand in front of Rosa, she looked him up and down quickly before pulling him into a tight hug. Iverson only stuck his hand out for him to shake sternly.

“Nice to see you again Sir,” he said clearly, which was met with a chorus of laughs from the rest of the family, causing a deep red blush to go across Matt’s face. There was little talk about their jobs while they got to work setting the table and pouring out drinks.

Just like most family tables, the sound at the dinner table was never just eating. They talked over each other, loudly laughing and arguing about the events of the day. As much as they could, they included Matt in the conversations but he mostly stayed quiet focusing on his food and Lance.

The table went silent when there was a sudden clang at the far end of the table. Matt’s teeth were clenched as he quickly put his fork to the side and away from the plate he dropped it on. He looked up at the silence and gave them an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, excuse me for a second,” he said quickly before getting up from the table and heading out the screen door. They looked over at Lance who was looking out at the entryway with a worried expression.

“Just give us a second guys,” he sighed, getting up and following his path.

They glanced at each other, confusion in their eyes. They finished up the last of their food in silence before they started cleaning up, putting Lance and Matt’s plates in the oven to stay warm.

“I’ll go see what’s keeping them,” Iverson said passing by the kitchen to head down the entryway. He stopped at the door before he could leave when he heard talking.

“Matt, calm down, this is only your first time meeting them,”

“I feel like I’m messing up,”

“You’re not messing anything up, in fact, I think my brother is in love with you,” Lance promised.

“I’m sorry. This is my first serious relationship Lance, I want this to be perfect,”

“You have nothing to be sorry about, first meetings are never going to be perfect babe,” he laughed lowly.

“I know. I’m just scared,”

“You have nothing to be scared about, I’m going to be with you the entire time, I promise,”

There was a short silence.

“I love you so much,”

“I love you too,”

Silently he slipped away from the door and went back to the kitchen. Everything was cleaned up and Mark and Marie were in the living room setting up the Wii with Caleb and Sophie.

“So?” Rosa asked, looking up at Iverson curiously.

“He was nervous about making a bad first impression,”

Rosa sighed put her hands on her hips.

“He has nothing to worry about, he’s a perfectly nice boy,” she argued with a huff. They went quiet as they heard the screen door open and close again. They trod into the kitchen, Matt more subdued than the first time he came in. Rosa took that as her cue and went over to pull him into another hug.

“Welcome to the family Matt,”

* * *

Now, Iverson was going to be honest, he was warming up to the Holt boy. Over the past couple months, he fell into their family like a puzzle piece. But there were still times that he thought he just wasn’t the right person for Lance. After that night, Matt started spending a lot of time at Lance’s house. Helping around the house and spending as much time as he could with the family.

Iverson found himself trusting Matt a little bit more with every visit that he made to them. He was polite, funny, loyal, and everything else a parent looked for in their kid’s significant other. He still was waiting for that one thing that would cement Matt in his mind as acceptable for Lance.

He was going to get it soon.

He grumbled alongside Mark; Rosa had sent them to pick up some supplies to fix the fence in the backyard, a project he had promised he would finish months ago. She and Maria were out getting groceries for a special dinner since he, Matt, and Lance would have to head back to the Garrison soon for work.

“Hello?” Mark’s cellphone had started ringing and he moved the packages of screws he had in his hand under his arm. A range of emotions started moving across his face as he put the screws on the shelf, grabbed his dad’s arm and started dragging him out of the store.

“Are you okay?” He sounded worried but his eyebrows were furrowed angrily.

“Where is he right now?”

“Okay, stay inside, where are Lance and Matt?”

“Okay, we’re on our way back now, we’ll be back soon,” he promised hanging up the phone, before turning to Iverson.

“Jacob’s at the house,” he said simply. Immediately a fire started burning in his gut. That bastard. Hasn’t he done enough already? Now he was back to terrorize Lance again?

“Apparently, Lance is out there yelling at him,” Mark said as they climbed into the car.

Good. That’s his boy.

When they pulled into the driveway they saw Jacob’s old beat up car, the one Lance used to be so excited to see. The two of them were standing off in front of each other, screaming at each other. Lance was red in the face and snarling, spit flying out of his mouth with each word. Matt was standing a little bit away, looking uncertainly between them.

They couldn’t hear what they were saying but they couldn’t imagine that it was anything nice. Apparently, they were right because, in the next second, Jacob decked Lance, sending him straight to the dirt.

They jumped out of the car but before either Iverson or Mark could make a move towards them; Matt was there. He tackled Jacob to the ground hard and threw a punch at his face, connected with his cheek with a loud crack.

He wasn’t going down without a fight though and retaliated, violently punching and kicking back. With a swipe across his face, his nose was bleeding and falling in droplets to the ground. Matt had the advantage of being in a space rebellion and quickly gained the upper hand, it was only when Jacob flinched at one of the attempted punches that Matt stopped an inch away from his face. With a huff he climbed to his feet, looking down at the bloodied boy.

“Get out of here,” he growled. He didn’t need another warning before he was scrambling back to his car and revving it out of there.

Matt took a few deep breaths, leaning back onto Lance as he came up behind him.

“Matt! Babe! Are you okay?” He asked frantically, cupping his cheek carefully. Matt gave him a breathless smile and nodded faintly.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” he said worriedly, taking his hand and leading him back to the house. He sat him down in a chair and rushed to get the med kit from the upstairs bathroom.

“Mark, take Caleb and Sophie!” He ordered before climbing up the stairs. Mark nodded and ushered both of them downstairs, leaving Matt and Iverson in silence in the kitchen.

“Looks like you’re going to have quite the shiner,” Iverson commented suddenly, Matt’s head whipping up in surprise. He strained to look at him, one of his eyes already swelling up from the fight. Just as quickly, he looked back down.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect Lance,” he apologized quietly, sounding ashamed of himself.

“Compare your face to Lance’s right now,” he said instead. “I’d say you did a pretty fine job of protecting him,” he admitted. Matt blinked before looking up at Iverson with amazement.

“Maybe you are good enough for him after all,”

“T-thank you, Sir,” Matt stuttered out a grateful smile on his face. For the first time, Iverson returned the smile.

“Call me Mitch,”

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit my tumblr at blueplanettrash!


End file.
